relationships and other things...

I LOVED the play! I read it at night before bedtime inserting it into my regular reading schedule. I had a hard time putting it down. It was compelling and fascinating to me. Like Todd, I was frustrated with the idea that your brilliant thinking is over by 23. I wholeheartedly disagree with that thought!!! I feel like I am just getting to the point where I have something to say! Albert Bandura has been refining his thinking and his best work has come much later in his life!!

On another note, as a family studies person, I am quite interested in the relationships described in the play. Mostly because I wonder why the older sister needed to "take care" of her younger sister so much! She treated her as if she were incompetent! She had been caring for her mentally ill father which requires a great deal of mental fortitude. I afraid that didn't make sense to me at all! But, the fact that the play creates these questions in me makes the entire play very provocative.

I love it that Snow involves faculty in this way! I hope to learn more from you all!

proof Thoughts

Colleague-I was able to read proof over the weekend while traveling back from a conference. As a researcher and educator it really resonated with me. I love research because I see it as the chance to be creative, to explore and to struggle with trying to understand what you are observing in ways that may be beneficial. I like staying up late at night to work, not because I feel that I have to so that tenure comes, but more importantly because I want to see what I can accomplish. My research is nothing like what was described in proof; it deals more with social science and trying to get at what brings about change. I sometimes approach this by looking for what might inhibit change and at other times I look for the factors that might allow change. Still other times I try to learn more about the change I think is needed. I have this idea about what I think would be great, but the more I explore it, the more I realize I don’t know about ‘it’. I have veered from the text . . . I like the play. I like the humanity that was portrayed and the fear that was revealed.

Finally, if there was one thing that I didn’t like, it would be on pg. 34. The quote from the text is “There’s this fear that your creativity peaks at around twenty-three and it’s all downhill from there. Once you hit fifty, it’s over you might as well teach high school”. I am questioning why our society (if this can be generalized) thinks about teaching high school in the way depicted here. As a young graduate fresh out of a Masters program I taught in a rural school in Iowa. I was the lone high school science teacher, ironically at Lone Tree High School. I taught all science courses (even those I didn’t know much about, or restated even those that I new less than a little less about). In this position I experienced life. I struggled, but for the first time in my life I felt like I could do anything (this may have been unfounded confidence). I saw myself as a teacher outside the university where many time (but not all) I was told that to think of such great aspirations was not realistic or practical. I see teaching as a great career for the teacher and more importantly for the students that have that teacher. I love the play, but did not appreciate this.

Thanks for allowing me to share. I hope to see many others’ thoughts.